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Classical Music

Best concerts and opera in May

By Claudia Pritchard on 28/4/2023

The country house opera season begins, London goes baroque, and there's a last chance to catch English National Opera's big hit, Blue

Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, English National Opera

Final performances of a new staging of one of the best-known and most-loved pieces of modern music, Henryk Górecki's Symphony No 3, the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. Setting Polish texts, the moving work for orchestra and voice, first heard in 1992, meditates on the awful separation of mother and child. American soprano Nicole Chevalier (pictured) is the soprano soloist, and Russian-American conductor, Lidiya Yankovskaya makes her ENO conducting debut.

WHEN

Thurs 27 April to Sat 6 May. Six performances, start times vary. Running time 1hr with no interval

WHERE

English National Opera, Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES

Innocence, Royal Opera House

Simon Stone of Phaedra fame directs the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's opera Innocence. In modern-day Finland, an oddly subdued wedding is under way. When a waitress is taken ill, memories of a tragedy 10 years earlier are reawakened. Singers include Sandrine Piau (soprano), and Christopher Purves (bass), with Susanna Mällki, chief conductor of the Helskini Philharmonic Orchestra, making her ROH conducting debut.

WHEN

Final performances, Mon 1 and Thurs 4 May 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD

Blue, English National Opera

Absolutely outstanding opera about parents' fears for their adored son as he goes out into the world and is the victim of a racial attack. Composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist Tazewell Thompson have created an exceptionally well-rounded piece, enriched by wide-ranging music and poetic words. Nadine Benjamin as the Mother (pictured, in blue) and Kenneth Kellogg as the Father lead an exceptional cast. Do catch this!

WHEN

Final performances on Sun 30 April at 3PM, Tues 2 and Fri 4 May 2023 at 7:30PM

WHERE

English National Opera, Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES

Different Trains, Kings Place

American minimalist composer Steve Reich gave his piece this name to reflect the many journeys he undertook by rail between his separated parents. Here the Ligeti Quartet plays this mesmerising and atmospheric piece in a d&b Soundscape performance, bringing extra depth to the listening experience. Part of Sound Unwrapped, a year-long exploration of the limits of music.

WHEN

Fri 12 May 2023, 9:30PM

WHERE

Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG

A Watchful Gaze, The Sixteen

Enjoy music in beautiful surroundings at this stop on the choir's Choral Pilgrimage 2023. Celebrating the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, a composer who changed English music, the choir commissioned contemporary composer Dobrinka Tabakova whose pieces Arise Lord into thy Rest and Turn our Captivity are given their London premiere.

WHEN

Tues 16 May 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Old Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich, London SE10 9NN

London Festival of Baroque Music 2023, St John's Smith Square

Nine days of music and insight from the 17th and 18th century repertoire includes concerts, a masterclass with virtuoso keyboard player Steven Devine (pictured) and – our favourite – a Baroque Cabaret, with the brilliant young Southbank Sinfonia, players from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and wine and cheese for the audience (Thurs 18 May).

WHEN

Fri 12 May to Sat 20 May 2023. Times vary

WHERE

St John's Smith Square, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA

Glyndebourne Festival Opera is loved for its music – and its gardens. Photo: James Bellorini

Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2023

Three exciting new productions dominate a season that is punctuated with revivals of three outstanding classic productions. Choose from Mozart's thrilling Don Giovanni, Poulenc's moving Dialogues des Carmelites or Handel's dramatic Semele. Or revisit the timeless Peter Hall production of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress with David Hockney sets or Donizetti's fizzing comedy, L'Elisir d'Amore.

WHEN

Fri 19 May to Sun 27 Aug 2023. Six productions with long dinner interval. Start times and running times vary

WHERE

Glyndebourne
Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5UU

Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin was one of the 2022 hits at Opera Holland Park. The 2023 season is under way. Photo: Ali Wright

Opera Holland Park 2023

Opera Holland Park is the go-to summer music venue for London music-lovers, and this year it offers more than the classics of the opera repertoire for which it is justly renowned. Alongside Verdi (Rigoletto) and Puccini (La Bohème) will be contemporary composer Jonathan Dove, whose accessible new opera, Itch, is based on the periodic table. Also good for families, Hansel and Gretel. To close, hilarity with Charles Court Opera's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore.

WHEN

30 May 2023 – 31 Aug 2023, Five productions, start times vary

WHERE

Opera Holland Park
Stable Yard, Holland Park, London , W8 6LU

The Bartered Bride, returning to Garsington Opera, has its own circus. Photo: Clive Barda

Garsington Opera 2023

One of the companies Londoners love to see in action, and one that always punches above its weight. Garsington Opera, on the Getty estate at Wormsley, near High Wycombe, has three new productions and one excellent revival this year. To open, Rossini's sparkling The Barber of Seville, then an early Mozart gem, Mitridate Re di Ponto. After the huge success of his Garsington Der Rosenkavalier, Bruno Ravella returns to Richard Strauss for Ariadne auf Naxos, and returning is Smetana's The Bartered Bride in its highly-acclaimed, circus-skilled production (pictured).

WHEN

Wed 31 May to Sun 23 July 2023. Four productions with long dinner interval. Start and running times vary

WHERE

Garsington Opera
Wormsley Estate, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire HP14 3YG

Best concerts and opera in May

The country house opera season begins, London goes baroque, and there's a last chance to catch English National Opera's big hit, Blue

Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, English National Opera

Innocence, Royal Opera House

Blue, English National Opera

Different Trains, Kings Place

A Watchful Gaze, The Sixteen

London Festival of Baroque Music 2023, St John's Smith Square

Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2023

Opera Holland Park 2023

Garsington Opera 2023

Royal Opera House

English National Opera

Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Garsington Opera

Opera Holland Park

St John's Smith Square

Blue, English National Opera review ★★★★★

The 12 best BBC Proms 2023: passion and innovation

Innocence, Royal Opera House review ★★★★★

Lang Lang and the RPO, Royal Albert Hall

Opera at Covent Garden 2023/24: Royal Opera season in full

Summer country house opera: a survivor's guide